Music Magazine Research- Kerrang Contents Page Collage

Here I decided that I would do another version of a contents page collage. It was a lot easier getting contents' pages for Kerrang Magazine rather than Q because it is published more frequently than Q. We can see from these images that there is a particular house style that is applied throughout.

Music Magazine Research-Kerrang Contents Page Analysis

This issue of Kerrang magazine is a different one to the previous one I analysed for my front cover analysis. The reason for this is due to copyright issues within the publishing world, the issue did not have a contents page that was visible on the internet. This issue above is from the 20^th of November 2010.  When researching different images of Kerrang’s contents page I can evidently see that for their content page they use a particular house style.

Throughout we can see various images. The first image that catches our eyes is the large image of the band Alter Bridge. The image is in black and white suggesting to us that black and white may be the bands signature colour, or the images further into the magazine about this band may be black and white. This image is very large and takes up around 45% of the contents page which suggests to us that this magazine may contain a large feature on the band. To the left of this image we see two images of the band 30 Seconds to Mars and I preview of what the article looks like about the artist Craig Owens. Using a preview is very useful for the reader as they do not have to just look for the page number but it entices them to flick through the magazine and read through other articles until they meet the feature on Craig Owens which they have mainly been looking for.  At the bottom half of the page we can clearly see various images of what is featured inside, like posters and artists that are featured in it. At the left hand side we can see a short blurb from the editor Nicola, and a thumbnail picture of her at the top of it. This is usually situated within a contents page of a magazine. Because we cannot see the small text clearly we can’t see if this is an editorial or an advertorial.

We can evidently see that the magazine uses a particular house style when we are researching different types of contents pages within Kerrang magazine. The colours mainly used are black and white, along with yellow highlight behind the subheadings showing us where the articles are in the information box. The colour yellow stands out very well as it is also joined by a bold font which is in capital letters, directing us into different sections which makes the contents very accessible for the reader. The use of red is also very significant as it stands out against the white background. The red font shows us the page numbers for each of the articles which makes it very easy to access because it is in a different colour. In various places we can see a wide range of capital letters used which emphasises to the reader that these are large features or important articles.

There are a total of five different sections which are separated by lines and text and it is extremely accessible for the reader. The section called Kerrang contains information, articles and features that are within the magazine weekly and what the reader expects to see. The section titled “This Week” shows the reader that the articles, information and features have never been in the magazine before and are only in it this once. This entitles the reader in as it may be very exciting news within the rock music industry.

At the bottom right hand corner of the page we can see the promotional feature where the magazine is asking people to subscribe to them, so they will deliver it to their door for just £6 a month, which is very good value for money. Other than that there are no other promotional features on the contents page. On the front cover of this issue there may have been a few to draw the reader in, but from the lack of promotional features this shows us that this magazine is not just about selling products and advertising but they are all about the music and information about artists, bands, festivals and concerts within the rock genre of the music industry.

The magazine logo is placed on the middle of the mage titling a section with the features that are situated in the magazine every week and what the reader expects to see. The logo is not very dominant here, if it was in a larger font with more colour and at the skyline it would be more dominant making it stand out to the reader even more.

Kerrang not only publishes a music magazine, but they have other franchises such as Kerrang! Radio, The K! Awards and The Kerrang! Tour which is a rock concert festival and is held throughout January and February every year. Theses franchises are not promoted on the contents page but they may be promoted within this issue of the magazine.

Music Magazine Research-Kerrang Front Cover Collage

I decided to create a collage of the magazine that i previously analysed. We can clearly see that there is a typical house style and that there is a particular genre of music like punk that they stick to.

Music Magazine Research- Kerrang Front Cover Analysis

Kerrang! is a UK-based magazine devoted to rock music published by Bauer Media Group. It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper. Named after the onomatopoeic word that derives from the sound made when playing a power chord on a distorted electric guitar, Kerrang! was initially devoted to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and the rise of hard rock acts. In the early 2000s it became the best-selling British music newspaper.

The latest issue of Kerrang magazine is published on a weekly basis. Issue 1533 features “the extraordinary journey of Laura Jane Grace” who has been awarded the Kerrang Woman of the Year. Laura Jane Grace (born Thomas James Gabel, November 8, 1980) is an American musician best known as the founder, lead singer, songwriter and guitarist of the punk rock band Against Me!.  

From the front cover of this magazine we can clearly see that the target audience is a young group who are interested in the likes of punk or rock music. We can evidently spot this through the use of dark colour's in the background, excluding the yellow, white and pink and from the clothes that the woman in the main image is wearing are of a rock/punk type.  The various images throughout the cover page like the one of Alexandria are of a rock type, as he holds his guitar up in the air and sticks is tongue out, which is typically what rockers do.

The image of Laura Jane Grace is a straight on look, drawing the reader in with a relaxed approach. If she was looking down with a low angle shot, the reader would feel intimidated and if the shot was from a high angle and the Laura Jane was looking up the reader would feel too superior over Laura Jane.

From the cover lines surrounding the main image we can see that there is going to be a large feature on Laura Jane who has received the woman of the year award. We can see that Laura has had a tough life from the line above her name saying“I have my daughter and my band... everything else is gone”. The use of bold font on the words, daughter, band, everything and gone implies that the first three things are very important to her and everything she used to have is out of the picture. It implies that these are also the only people she needs in her life .

The font used throughout is of a paint like type, so we get the funky kind of vibe, kind of like paint used for vandalism. The use of capitals shows us that the cover lines are very important and it makes them stand out ot the reader as the various colour's used throughout are very eye catching.

We can see from the left hand side that the magazine have a free enticement of a pull out poster of the artist Gerard Way. From not displaying the poster stuck too the outside, this is a very good way of drawing the reader to look inside the magazine, and focus on whats on the inside rather than whats stuck to the outside. Gerard Arthur Way is an American musician and comic book writer who was the lead vocalist and co-founder of the band My Chemical Romance from its formation in September 2001 until its split in March 2013. This shows us that with the genre of My Chemical Romance being rock, the magazine aim for an audience of people who are interested in rock music.

The slogan of Kerrang magazine is “Everything That Rocks” is not displayed anywhere on the front cover, which is not expected as we usually expect to see the slogan under the masthead or symbol in most magazines. This shows us that Q magazine may not particularly have a typical house style.